rapture ready?

"The sinners in Zion are afraid;

fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites.

Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire?

Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?"

Isaiah 33:14

Are you ready for the Rapture?   Are you sure?

Not all Christians, I'm sure, but I believe that by far most do not realize who it is that is soon coming down from out of heaven, to receive to himself his Bride.  The Apostle John described him thus:

"His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.  And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. 

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead."   (Revelation 1:14-17)

The great Apostle Paul ~ who saw the Lord in glory, described the coming of Jesus Christ as follows:

"...when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ...."   (2 Thessalonians 1:8)

The antediluvian prophet, Enoch ~ who himself was "translated that he should not see death" (that is, he was taken alive into heaven; Hebrews 11:5), described the (Second) coming of Jesus Christ as follows:

"Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints [those already in heaven], to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners [including those many "sinners in Zion"] have spoken against him."  (Jude 14-15)

We know of another Old Testament prophet who was received up into heaven, without seeing death.  Unlike the soon coming Rapture of the Church, however, Jesus Christ did not then personally appear in the clouds for Elijah; though, God sent a heavenly taxi (a horse-drawn chariot) for Elijah.  But even that was all on fire!

Fire! Fire! Everywhere God appears, there is fire!  Do you recall, Ezekiel's Vision of God?

"And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire."  (Ezekiel 1:4)

It is no wonder, then, that that holy prophet Isaiah, moved by the Spirit of God, wrote the following: "The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites" (Isaiah 33:14a).  The phrase, "in Zion," is an allusion to those who profess themselves to be part of God's kingdom.  But why would any such people be "afraid"?  Why were they "surprised" that they found themselves suddenly gripped by "fearfulness"?  The reason is given: Because, they were "hypocrites."

What was it (prophetically, speaking of the future) that caused them to be overcome by such sudden dread?  Isaiah's very next words reveal the answer, implied in the form of a two-part question (which doubtless was uttered by those fear-filled hypocrites):

"Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with the everlasting burnings?"  (Isaiah 33:14b)

The meaning plainly suggested is that those "hypocrites" shall suddenly be filled with fear when they actually see the Lord coming in power and great glory ~ but they themselves are not ready.

Search the Book.  From cover to cover you will find a God: who is holy; who is a "consuming fire"; who "humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth!" (Psalm 113:6); "who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto" (1 Timothy 6:16); to whom belongs "all power...in heaven and in earth" (Matthew 28:18).  That God, in the Person of Jesus Christ ~ the one whose "eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men" (Psalm 11:4); whose "eyes are as a flame of fire"; and who is a "discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12): He it is who is coming "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye" (1 Corinthians 15:52), and by his omnipotent power, to instantly catch away from out of this world those whom he knows they truly are ready and watching for his appearing.

Therefore, the Holy Ghost warns us, that we must "abide in him [Jesus]; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming" (1 John 2:28).  As also in the Apostle Peter's writings:

"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.  Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?"  (2 Peter 3:10-12).

What manner of persons ought we to be, indeed?

Finally, let us hear from our Master himself:

"Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.  Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?  Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.  Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. 

"But and if that evil servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the lord of that servant will...cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."  (Matthew 24:44-51)

What manner of persons ought we to be, as we now are drawing so very, very near to the coming of the Lord?  Why, we ought to be as those disciples were, who, on the day of Pentecost, emerged from that upper room in Jerusalem, full of Holy Ghost power ~ and souls were won to Jesus by the thousands!  We ought to be as those later disciples of Christ, who by their Holy Ghost-filled lives "turned the world upside down" for Christ (Acts 17:6).

I can hear, ringing in my ears, the typical objection: "Oh! but that was so long ago!  The world has changed so much since then, and people just don't want to hear it, anymore."

Tell that to men like:

• William J. Seymour (d. 1922) ~ whose long years of praying, for upwards of 5 hours every day, resulted in the great Azuza Street Revival (c-1904+), which set the world on fire; or,
• Billy Sunday (d. 1935) ~ who, "Over the course of his career, Sunday probably preached to more than 100,000,000 people face-to-face!" (link); or,
• John G. Lake (d. 1935) ~ whose ministry God used to establish hundreds of churches in South Africa, and to produce more than 100,000 healings in one five-year period, in Spokane, Washington; or,
• Smith Wigglesworth (d. 1947) ~ that great soul-winner and "Apostle of Faith", who by faith, through God, raised numbers of people, including even his own wife, from the dead; or,
• Evan Roberts (d. 1951) ~ who was mightily used of God in the Welsh Revival (1904-05), during which, in one ten-week period, more than 100,000 souls were saved; or,
• Dr. Charles S. Price (d. 1962) ~ who reported that he was "privileged to pray with as many as 10,000 souls in one month"; and who saw "tens of thousands" of souls saved, healed, and delivered, not only in America but in foreign lands also; or,
• William McCleod (d. 2012) ~ who led a 250-member church to pray and seek God for Revival; which resulted in thousands of souls saved, and more than 3,000 teams of revivalists being sent all over the world.

The objection is thus removed as far as the east is from the west.  "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever" (Hebrews 13:8).

Notwithstanding that we are now witnessing that End-time Apostasy being fulfilled which was prophesied in Scripture (2 Thessalonians 2:3; 2 Timothy 4:3-4; et al) and typified by the Laodicean church (Revelation 3:14-22); yet, this truth still stands unchanged, namely: That Jesus Christ said: "I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18).  As well as this: "Of the increase of his government...there shall be no end" (Isaiah 9:7).

What manner of person must I be, at the time of Christ's appearing?  I must be one whose heart and mind, one whose very life, is characteristic of being in ~

a state of Revival

I am persuaded that everyone who will be taken in the Rapture, must ~ prior to the Rapture, be living "in a state of Revival."  What is "a state of Revival?" you may ask.  It is an attitude of the heart which demonstrates wholehearted submission to the authority of Jesus Christ.  It is a mental outlook which is focused continually on, and which always has as its referent, the will of God.  It is a commitment of one's own life to the glory of God and to the service of Jesus Christ.  It is a condition of one's spirit which is an open and undefiled channel to the working of the Holy Ghost.  It is a way of life wherein and whereby the life of Jesus Christ is manifested in and through such a person who is yielded to Jesus.

Now, if it be true that only those who are living "in a state of Revival" will be taken to heaven, at the Rapture; then, what does that say about the spiritual condition of the true Church, at that time?  The true Body of Christ, in order to be 'Rapture ready,' so to speak, must at that time be "in a state of Revival."  For, in no way does the Bible suggest that Jesus is coming to receive a weak, sick, broken-down, compromising, ineffectual, unfruitful, unfaithful and unbelieving Bride.  Rather, the Bible is abundantly clear that Jesus is coming to receive to himself those who have been and who are Overcomers, by reason of their union and intimacy with Christ.

Revival is not merely an opportunity to see the glory of God.  Nor is it merely a privilege belonging only to the children of God (though it is that).  But Revival is the solemn responsibility and duty of every Christian.  And only those who have embraced that responsibility, and who have earnestly sought to enter into that spiritual "state" or condition in which it can truly be said of them, that "Jesus Christ is Lord," may possess the real hope that, if they are yet alive at the time of the Rapture, they shall never taste death.

But more than that!!

Not only may such individuals expect that Christ will receive them to glory, at the Rapture.  But in order as any Christian will seek to be filled with the Holy Ghost and so live his or her life unto Jesus Christ, such persons are thus enabled ~ in this present life, to be "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4), and so be "transformed" according to "the image of Christ."

I could go on and on.  But I don't want to obscure the essence of this message.  Which is two-fold, namely:

1. That every member of the true Body of Christ, I believe, must be, and will be, in what I have termed a "state of Revival," prior to the time of the Rapture.  Else, those who are not then abiding with Christ in such a spiritual condition of life, I further believe, will be as those "hypocrites" which Isaiah described, filled with fear at the Lord's appearing, and (too late then) perceiving themselves to be unable to "dwell with the devouring fire, and with everlasting burnings" in the Presence of a thrice-holy God.  They will be as those five foolish virgins, who afterward sought entrance to the royal wedding, but they were turned away because they were unprepared at the time of the Bridegroom's appearing.  And,
2. The true Church necessarily being "in a state of Revival," prior to the Rapture; it logically follows that the world must experience the effects of that reality ~ prior to the Rapture.  Jesus Christ is returning for a holy Bride.  A holy Church is a Holy Ghost-FILLED Church, a powerful Church, a glorious Church.

It must be so.  Although, I believe that one's ability to perceive such a glorious (near-term) future ~ one that, admittedly, flies in the face of seemingly overwhelming "evidences" to the contrary, must be helped by the Holy Ghost, and can only be attained by earnestly seeking to know the mind and heart of God.

As I have recently explained to some, privately:

You cannot believe in what you have never seen;You will not desire what you do not believe;You will not seek for what you do not desire;You will not receive what you do not seek (God) for.

We must first, then, have an heavenly Vision of Revival ~ if we may then believe in it; if we may then desire it; if we should then seek God for it; if ever we may hope to receive it from Him.